1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an orifice plate having the through holes arranged on a plate material, which become orifices for discharging liquid droplets. Also, the invention relates to a method for manufacturing a liquid discharge head provided with an orifice plate through which desired liquid is discharged by the creation of bubbles by the application of thermal energy or the like.
2. Related Background Art
There has been known conventionally the so-called bubble jet recording method, which is an ink jet recording method whereby to provide ink with thermal energy or the like to change the states of ink with the abrupt voluminal changes (creation of bubbles) of ink to follow, and then, to discharge ink from the discharge ports by the active force based upon this change of states, thus allowing ink to adhere to the surface of a recording medium for the formation of images. As disclosed in the specifications of Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 61-059911 and 61-059914, and others, the recording apparatus that adopts the bubble jet recording method is generally provided with discharge ports through which ink is discharged; the ink flow paths communicated with the discharge ports; and heat generating elements (electrothermal transducing devices) arranged in the ink flow paths as energy generating means for discharging ink.
In accordance with a recording method of the kind, it is possible to record high quality images at higher speeds with a lesser amount of noises. At the same time, the discharge ports of the head that uses this recording method can be arranged in higher density to discharge fine ink droplets, hence making it possible to record images in a high resolution with the apparatus that can be made smaller accordingly. Color images can also be obtained easily, among many other excellent features. As a result, the bubble jet recording method has been widely utilized in recent years for a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile equipment, and other office equipment. Further, it has been used for the textile printing system or other industrial ones.
Along with the wider application of bubble jet technologies and techniques as described above, it has been strongly demanded to develop a recording apparatus of a higher resolution at lower costs.
Now, in conjunction with FIGS. 8A to 8D, the description will be made of the conventionally proposed method for manufacturing a liquid discharge head provided with an orifice plate having orifices formed on it (which is disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 02-188255).
(A) The resist 102 is formed on the conductive substrate 101 (SUS substrate, for example) by the utilization of the photolithographic techniques.
(B) After that, by means of electroforming, the metallic layer 103 (nickel, for example) is formed on the conductive substrate 101.
(C) The water repellent layer 105 are formed on the resist 102, and the metallic layer 103 produced by means of electroforming.
(D) At the same time that the resist 102 is removed from the conductive substrate 101, the water repellent layer on the orifice unit is removed by peeling off the orifice plate 109 from the conductive substrate 101.
(E) The orifice plate is adhesively bonded to the elemental substrate 106 that includes the energy generating elements 107 and the flow paths 113 produced in advance, hence completing a part of the liquid discharge head (FIGS. 8A to 8D).
Now, another conventional techniques will be described in conjunction with FIGS. 10A to 10D.
(A) The resist 102 is formed on the conductive substrate 101 (SUS substrate, for example) by the utilization of the photolithographic techniques.
(B) After that, by means of electroforming, the metallic layer 103 (nickel, for example) is formed on the conductive substrate 101.
(C) At the same time that the resist 102 is removed from the conductive substrate 101, the orifice plate 109 is peeled off from the conductive substrate 101.
(D) After that, the water repellent agent 105 is transferred to complete the orifice plate 109.
(E) The orifice plate is adhesively bonded to the elemental substrate 106 that includes the energy generating elements 107 and the flow paths 113 produced in advance, hence completing a part of the liquid discharge head (FIGS. 10A to 10D).
However, there are following problems encountered in the method for manufacturing the liquid discharge head provided with the orifice plate having the orifices as described above if it is intended to obtain a liquid discharge head of a higher performance.
In accordance with the conventional method shown in FIGS. 8A to 8D, when the orifice plate 109 is peeled off, the resist 102 is removed, and also, the water repellent agent 105 on the orifice unit is removed at the same time. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8D, the water repellent agent 105 presents an abnormal configuration on the surface of the orifice plate unit on the opening side. As a result, the stabilized sectional area of the orifice opening unit cannot be provided. Thus, the sectional area of the orifice opening unit is not formed invariably to make it impossible to obtain prints in a higher quality. Also, since the orifice unit is in an abnormal configuration, the directional accuracy of the ink droplets 110 cannot be kept invariably as shown in FIG. 9. As a result, the printing operation is affected so as to produce the twisted discharges or uneven prints eventually.
Also, in accordance with the conventional method of manufacture shown in FIGS. 10A to 10D, when the orifice plate is formed on the conductive substrate 101 by means of electroforming, the metallic layer 103 gets into the resist 102. Then, as shown in FIG. 10D, the circumference of each orifice of the orifice plate on the surface side is formed in the R-letter form. Even if it is intended to transfer the water repellent agent 105 to the orifice plate thus formed, the water repellent agent 105 is not transferred to the R-letter formed portions. As a result, as shown in FIG. 11, ink is caused to reside on each of the R-letter portions of the metallic layer, and it may take a long time to refill ink for the one thus residing, which causes the frequency response to be degraded.
The present invention is designed in consideration of these problems as discussed above. It is an object of the invention to provide a recording apparatus whereby to implement recording in higher resolution at higher frequency, and to record images in higher quality without twisted prints and the unevenness of the recorded images as well.
In order to achieve such objective, the method of the present invention for manufacturing an orifice plate is to manufacture the orifice plate provided with a plate material having a through hole arranged to become an orifice for discharging liquid, and comprises the following steps of:
a. arranging a resin layer in a position corresponding to the through hole on the surface of a conductive substrate in a configuration corresponding to the through hole in a thickness corresponding at least to the length of the through hole;
b. forming a metallic layer by means of electro-forming on the exposed surface of a portion of the conductive substrate corresponding to the plate material in a thickness corresponding to the thickness of the plate material in order to obtain the metallic layer in a state where the resin layer is filled in the through hole portion;
c. applying water repellent resin to the surface of the metallic layer having the resin layer filled therein;
d. peeling off the metallic layer from the conductive substrate together with the resin layer to obtain the plate material in a state where the through hole portion is filled with the resin layer; and
e. removing by the laser irradiation the resin layer portion of the plate material in a state where the resin layer is filled in the through hole portion having the water repellent layer coated on the surface in order to form the through hole.
Also, still another method of the present invention for manufacturing an orifice plate is to manufacture the orifice plate provided with a plate material having through holes arranged to become orifices for discharging liquid, and comprises the following steps of:
a. arranging a first resin layer in a position corresponding to the through hole on the surface of a conductive substrate in a configuration corresponding to the through hole in a thickness corresponding at least to the length of the through hole;
b. forming a metallic layer by means of electroforming on the exposed surface of a portion of the conductive substrate corresponding to the plate material in a thickness corresponding to the thickness of the plate material in order to obtain the metallic layer in a state where a first resin layer is filled in the through hole portion;
c. coating water repellent resin on the surface of the metallic layer having the first resin layer filled therein;
d. covering a second resin layer on the surface of the metallic layer having the water repellent resin coated thereon with the exception of the portion corresponding to the through hole opening portion;
e. removing the water repellent resin on the portion corresponding to the through hole opening portion by means of etching through the second resin layer;
f. peeling off the plate material from the conductive substrate together with the first and second resins; and
g. processing to open a through hole by removing the first resin and the second resin from the plate material provided with the water repellent resin on the aforesaid surface.
Also, the method of the present invention for manufacturing a liquid discharge head comprises the step of arranging orifices for discharging liquid droplets on the leading end of the liquid paths by installing the orifice plate on the discharge head member provided with the liquid paths, and the discharge energy generating elements to generate energy for discharging liquid in the liquid paths as liquid droplets. With this method, the orifice plate is formed by either one of the methods of the present invention for manufacturing an orifice plate as referred to in the preceding paragraphs.
In accordance with the method of the present invention, the orifices of the orifice plate are formed by removing the resin layer with the laser irradiation or with the elution using the remover. As a result, the variation of the sectional areas of the orifice opening portion is made smaller to prevent the orifices from being in an abnormal configuration. Hence, it becomes possible for the liquid discharge head using the orifice plate thus obtained by means of the method of the present invention to obtain the recorded images in higher quality. Also, with the water repellent layer formed on the orifice opening portion entirely, the refilling of ink is made faster to make it possible to print at higher frequency.